06.29.07

More terrorist activities discovered in London. It will interesting to see what group, if any, claims responsibility.

LONDON — Police thwarted an apparent terror attack Friday near the famed Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London, defusing a bomb made of a lethal mix of gasoline, propane gas, and nails after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a silver Mercedes outside a nightclub.

Hours later, police closed a major road in central London because of a suspicious vehicle.

A police spokesman said there was no immediate information about the vehicle on Park Lane, on the eastern edge of Hyde Park. He said there was nothing immediately to suggest it was linked to the earlier incident.

The bomb in the city’s theater district was powerful enough to have caused “significant injury or loss of life” — possibly killing hundreds, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

Britain’s new home secretary, Jacqui Smith called an emergency meeting of top officials, calling the attempted attack “international terrorism.”

“We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism,” she said afterward. “This reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant to the threat we face at all times.”

Police planned to examine footage from closed-circuit TV cameras in the area, Clarke said, hoping the surveillance network that covers much of central London will help them track down the driver of the rigged Mercedes.

Officers were called to The Haymarket, just south of Piccadilly Circus, after an ambulance crew — responding to a call just before 1:30 a.m. about an injury at a nearby nightclub — noticed smoke coming from a car parked in front of the club, Clarke said.

A bomb squad manually disabled the bomb.

Early photographs of the silver Mercedes showed a canister bearing the words “patio gas,” indicating it was propane gas, next to the car. The back door was open with blankets spilling out. The car was removed from the scene midmorning.

The busy Haymarket thoroughfare linking Piccadilly Circus to the Pall Mall is packed with restaurants, bars, a cinema complex and West End theaters, and was buzzing at that hour.

Please notice the fact that this bomb was packed with nails, which means it’s sole intent was to kill people. The innocent civilians going about their business on the streets and sidewalks nearby. Women and children. Take a look at this and then try to understand what the evil monster, masquerading as a human being, is capable of doing.

LONDON — Police thwarted a car bomb attack Friday in London’s bustling nightclub and theater district, defusing a crude explosive device made of gasoline, propane gas and nails after an ambulance crew spotted smoke coming from a green Mercedes outside a nightclub. Hours later, police confirmed that a second car bomb was found in the center of the city.

The first car bomb, found near Piccadilly Circus, was powerful enough to have caused “significant injury or loss of life” at a time when hundreds were in the area, British anti-terror police chief Peter Clarke said.

Clarke said Friday evening that the second car — a blue Mercedes — was originally parked illegally on nearby Cockspur Street, but had been towed from the West End to an impound lot near Hyde Park.

“The vehicle was found to contain very similar materials to those that had been found in the first car,” he said. “There was a considerable amount of fuel and gas canisters. As in the first vehicle, there was also a quantity of nails. This like the first device was potentially viable.”

This was in an email I received this morning from the Christian Law Association (CLA).

Man Wakes From “Terminal Coma”

After Rebecca Ramirez asked doctors and nurses to remove her husband Jesse’s feeding tubes, his family and friends rushed to get an emergency order to reinstate the treatment. Jesse Ramirez, Jr. and his wife Rebecca were in a car accident on May 30 which resulted in minor injuries for Rebecca, but major health issues for Jesse. He went into a coma.

Doctors found that he sustained brain injuries, bringing about his loss of consciousness. A court battle ensued for rights to his medical care. The move by Rebecca Ramirez to take out his feeding and hydration tubes prompted his family to move more quickly to change guardian rights. Tuesday, June 26, Judge Paul Katz reversed his wife’s request to remove the tubes and elected a more objective guardian.

As his wife was trying to pull the plug on his life, Jesse Ramirez was fighting to stay alive. Just eighteen days after his wife gave that order to the doctors, Jesse pulled out of his coma. Today, he sits up in his hospital bed and communicates with visitors just as any other patient would. His family said that he attempts to mouth words and gives the thumbs-up sign. He also gives them hugs and kisses.

Such a miraculous story reminds us of the miracle of life. It reveals the truth that no man can really know God’s timing. The Bible states that it is appointed unto man once to die. With that in mind, the reversal is also a challenge to us all–we only have one life to live.

Today John Kerry weighed in on an issue that is now all the rage among liberal politicians. The issue is called the Fairness Doctrine.

This is a rule that used to exist in broadcasting — radio and TV — which required that no opinion could be expressed without a countervailing opinion presented immediately. It was the old salt and pepper rule. If you were on the air with a salt shaker, you had to have a pepper shaker.

Now what this is all about is talk radio. Liberals are complaining that their brand of talk radio fails whenever someone tries to put it on the air, and they have decided the answer is to shut up conservative talk radio. This is the “Hush Rush” movement.

Liberals are angry that so many of you listen to talk radio — conservative talk radio — and that you cannot be dragged over to a liberal talk show. This argument ignores the fact that something like 20 million people a week listen to NPR, which is the very definition of liberal.

What it also ignores is that the Fairness Doctrine applies to all broadcast, not just radio and especially not just talk radio. Liberals should be on notice it will apply to all the liberals who now operate on the airwaves in network TV news, in certain quarters of cable news and, of course, in entertainment TV.

Face it. Liberals own Hollywood. Virtually every movie would be subject to the Fairness Doctrine. Think Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” could stand up to that scrutiny or Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11”? Not a chance.

Do you think HBO can stand to have the Fairness Doctrine applied to what it airs? Bill Maher is going to have an awful time trying to conform to the Fairness Doctrine, and I can’t think of a liberal anywhere who wants to shut him up.

What John Kerry and Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin are asking for is to only restrict the broadcasting that conservatives do, mainly talk radio, though I have no doubt they have their plans for FOX News, too.

This is an attempt to take over the airwaves with liberal thought and make sure nothing else gets on. It’s already a huge imbalance in favor of liberal thought on the airwaves, and the effort now is to make certain that echo chamber of so-called progressives is undisturbed by any irritating arguments from the right, or debates liberals can’t win.

This is liberals in action. When you can’t win the debate, make certain there is no debate. That is what the resurgence of the Fairness Doctrine debate is all about.

06.28.07

OK, Koran 2:256 says “There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.”
This passage must be more of a “guideline” than a rule. (hat tip Little Green Footballs)

The only opposition-ruled state in Malaysia has approved stiffer penalties to deter people from trying to convert Muslims to other faiths.

Under the revised law passed by Kelantan state, anyone found guilty faces a maximum penalty of six lashes with a rattan cane, five years in prison and a fine of almost $3,000.

Kelantan is the only Malaysian state led by the opposition Islamist party, PAS.

Hassan Mohamood, who heads Kelantan’s Islamic affairs committee, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the stiffer laws are useful “as a form of deterrence”.

The previous maximum penalty was two years in prison and a fine of RM5,000 ($1,400).

Proselytising of Muslims is forbidden under federal laws, but the recent case of Line Joy, a Malay-Muslim woman who sought legal recognition of her right to pick her religion of choice, raised fears among some in Malaysia over mass conversion.

Attempts to convert Muslims to other faiths are rare, and people found guilty face prison terms in most states in the country where just over half the 27 million population are Muslims with a sizeable number of Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.

According to the latest US state department data on Malaysia, ethnic Malays – who are Muslims by law – make up about half the population but are officially grouped together as Bumiputera, or sons of the soil, with indigenous groups who make up 11 per cent of the population, not all of whom are Muslims.

It is not too late to contact your senator to voice your opposition to illegal immigration amnesty bill that the senate is attempting to force down our throats despite opposition from a large majority of American citizens.
Michelle Malkin is keeping a rolling post (play by play) of the senate’s activities concerning this issue.

WASHINGTON- Conservative Republican senators and a handful of Democrats are trying to put a final knife in President Bush’s plan for amnesty for millions of illegal aliens.

A broad immigration bill, including amnesty, survived a series of unfriendly amendments Wednesday. Supporters pointed to the bill’s tighter borders and workplace rules to keep it alive.

Both sides agreed the crucial vote occurs Thursday. Supporters must gain 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to limit debate and clear the way for a roll call on final passage, perhaps by Friday. Anything less will likely doom the legislation until a new president and Congress take office in 2009.

Bush’s allies passed a similar test Tuesday, but several senators said they simply were agreeing to let debate continue for a couple of days, and they made no promises to support the legislation on Thursday or beyond.

The revived immigration measure could grant legalization to the estimated 12 million unlawful immigrants if they pass background checks and pay fines and fees. It also would toughen border security and institute a new system for weeding out illegal aliens from workplaces.

It faces challenges from the left as well as the right.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., was among those disappointed Wednesday. The Senate voted 55-40 to reject his amendment that would have made it easier for some immigrants to obtain visas for family members left behind in their home countries.

“This action does nothing to allay my concerns about the increasingly right-wing tilt to these proceedings, and it makes it more difficult to vote in favor of invoking cloture on the bill,” Menendez said, referring to Thursday’s crucial vote to limit debate.

While Menendez and a few other Democrats may oppose the bill, the main opponents have been Bush’s fellow sunbelt Republicans. GOP Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana, Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Jeff Sessions of Alabama led the charge, often backed by Texans Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn.

Late Wednesday, they applauded the Senate’s refusal to reject a fairly low-key amendment that, because of parliamentary rules, left leaders no choice but to halt action until Thursday’s showdown vote.

“They tried to railroad this through today, but we derailed the train,” DeMint said. Asked if he was poised to kill the bill Thursday, DeMint replied, “we hope to.”

The bill’s bipartisan supporters, who include liberals such as Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and conservatives such as Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., said they would push hard to survive Thursday’s vote. But they were frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm shown by many in the president’s party.

Some noted the virtual absence throughout Wednesday’s floor debate of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has declined to say how he would vote on the measure.

McConnell left GOP colleagues including Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to contend with the Vitter-DeMint-Sessions group, while Democrats were represented in the chamber most of the day by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

“When the U.S. Senate brought the Amnesty bill back up this week, they declared war on the American people. This act created a crisis of confidence in their government. Thankfully, the American people won today,” said Senator DeMint. “This is remarkable because it shows that Americans are engaged and they care deeply about their country. They care enough for their country to get mad and to fight for it, and that’s the most important thing of all. Americans made phone calls and sent letters, and convinced the Senate to stop this bill.”

“The Senate rejected this bill and the heavy-handed tactics used to ram it through. Americans do not want more of the same – amnesty and broken promises on the border. Americans want legislation to be written in public – not in secret – and they want Congress to engage in an open and fair debate.”

“There is a better way forward without this bill. The President has said that the border security measures can be implemented over the next 18 months, and they can be done under current law. Now the Administration needs to prove it and stop holding border security hostage for amnesty.”

“Once we have secured the border and restored trust with the American people, we can begin to take additional steps.”

We must continue to diligent in identifying and protesting the underhanded methods the gay activist consistently use in their attempt to indoctrinate our young people.

A Christian activist says homosexuals in San Diego are hijacking a family event at a Major League Baseball game to introduce their immoral behavior to children. According to James Hartline, a group of Christians are planning a counter-protest in support of children and families.

On July 8, Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres, will host “Floppy Cap Day” for all children 14 and under. However, James Hartline, a Christian activist and former homosexual, says the group San Diego Pride is holding a homosexual pride event at the same game. The Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego will sing the national anthem as well.

Hartline says there has been some outcry about this from Christians in the area. He says two Christian ministries in particular — Set Free Ministries and The Training Center — will be taking a tough stand in defense of families.

“Their group has a contract with the concession stands in the park,” Hartline says. “They have all voted and decided that they could not, as Christians and in good conscience, participate in their jobs on the same day that all these children are going to be indoctrinated into homosexuality. And they are willing to take the loss and they are going to walk off the job in protest.”

According to Hartline, Set Free Ministries supplies workers for the concession stands at the park and receives a stipend for those workers. “This ministry gets 90 percent of its income to do rehabilitation, education, and just a renewal of life activities for these many men and women that come into their organization to start their lives over,” he explains.

Hartline says about 52 people will be walking off the job at Petco Park that day. He adds that Christians will also gather outside the park to warn unsuspecting families about the homosexual pride event inside the park.

Yesterday, I saw a post at Little Green Footballs showing an example for a weather search for Jerusalem in Israel. The folks at CNN have already changed it, but when one searched for Jerusalem, the country field of the results came back “null”, which means that no country was entered, by CNN, for the city “Jerusalem”. Today it correctly shows the country as “Israel” instead of “Null”.
Now although they have “fixed” the country problem, one can still get the weather for Arab villages, ones that haven’t been in existence for years!!
Here’s what Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs has to say about it:

Congratulations to all lizards who expressed their outrage to CNN about their anti-Israel weather page; it now includes the dreaded word “Israel” instead of “Jerusalem, null.”

However, if you use their “Weather Selector” to look up the weather in Israel, you’ll still find the names of several Arab villages that have not existed since 1948: Select your weather!

Israellycool pointed it out:

If you select Israel, a list of cities is displayed, which includes:
* Abu Shusha, an Arab village that has not existed since 1948
* Akbara, an Arab village near Safed that has not existed since 1948
* Al Atrun, which is the Arab name for the area of Latrun
* Dayr Ayyub, an Arab village that has not existed since 1948, and where the eastern segment of Canada Park is today

This cannot possibly be an accident. Someone at CNN added those Arab names to that page on purpose.

Leftist censors aren’t just dropping hints about their determination to legislate conservative talk radio out of existence. They are screaming their intentions, loud and clear.

In the wake of the pending final demise of bankrupt and scandal-plagued Air America, the Left continues to be frustrated by the fact that America simply isn’t tuning in to their propaganda. So, according to reports from various news outlets, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Steny Hoyer, Dennis Kucinich, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein are joining their friends at the far-left Center for American Progress to cook up a new plan: force radio stations to accept unwanted programming in the name of “fairness” and “balance.”

Speaker Pelosi has reportedly promised to “aggressively pursue” revival of the poorly-titled “Fairness Doctrine,” whose regulations would mandate that radio stations featuring the views of conservatives like Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt, or Bill O’Reilly “balance” those views (in the name of diversity) with an “equal” dose of, say, Al Franken, Randi Rhodes, or Thom Hartmann – all proven failures in a free radio market.

As if that news wasn’t alarming enough, a report released by CAP last week added even more fuel to the fire, reminding conservatives just how far the left-wing will go to silence dissent.

The organization’s report, titled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio,” expresses a need to “close the gap” between conservative and Left-wing programming. It also advocates increasing “ownership diversity, both in terms of the race/ethnicity and gender of owners, as well as the number of independent local owners,” which in the Left’s view would lead to more “diverse” programs. So instead of capitalism, we get the Leftist cure-all: quotas.

In a free market, the listeners decide which radio programs live and which die. Forcing stations to operate not on the basis of ratings and ad revenue, but in an ideological and multi-cultural affirmative-action system that dictates “fairness,” is not only unconstitutional – it’s downright Soviet. It’s offensive to the economic marketplace; it’s suffocating to the vital marketplace of ideas.

But, of course, that persnickety First Amendment has never stopped the Left before. They’re more than happy to rewrite it and bully Americans into submission, if they can’t capture and sustain an audience the old-fashioned way.

When the Fairness Doctrine was first introduced in 1949, it required licensed broadcasters to devote equal time to both sides of a controversial issue, and mandated that stations air programming addressing issues of local interest. At a time when television was in its infancy, satellite radio a fantasy, and the Internet non-existent, such rules may have had some merit. But in today’s market, with hundreds of choices in programming, such regulations are irrelevant – and nearly impossible to enforce.

But the Fairness Doctrine is more than useless – it’s counterproductive. The FCC realized 20 years ago that the law actually discouraged, rather than encouraged, more free speech. Rather than try to gauge what legally constituted “equal time” for both sides of a political contest, station owners began just dropping politically-based programming altogether. That led to the FCC’s ending enforcement of the doctrine in 1987.

The fact is that the success of conservative talk radio is a direct response to the Left’s virtual 50-year stranglehold on American media through its domination of all the major network and cable television outlets … through public broadcasting stations such as PBS and NPR … and through virtually every major American newspaper. Conservatives are simply fed up with Left-wing bias, and their heartfelt embrace of talk radio is clear evidence of their outrage.

It’s time for the Left to cut the static: Behind the calls for “regulation” and “diversity” hides a posse of political bullies who realize that they cannot compete against the likes of Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh in a free market. The left-wing’s failure to capture anything beyond a tiny niche market isn’t the fault of the FCC, nor of the dormant Fairness Doctrine. The “blame” rests with radio listeners who came, listened, and chose to tune out of “Dead Air” America.

Middletown Township in Pennsylvania was almost the site of an “honor killing”. Common is Muslim countries and the U.K., we have not experienced a significant number of them here yet.

Police said the father and his son tried to kidnap her fiancé by beating him up and tossing him into a sport utility vehicle.

Robert Webber, of Middletown Township police, said he thought he was being dispatched to a Bucks County diner Friday night for a fight but once he got there he was in the middle of a family disagreement turned violent.

“The victim advised me that his fiancée’s family was trying to kill him, drag him into a car and take him somewhere, where he believed he was going to be killed,” Webber said.

Webber said the alleged victim told him his fiancée’s family was upset the two had moved in together.

He said there were cultural differences and that’s why 48-year-old Mohd Nasher and his son 20-year-old Mohammed Nasher were allegedly gunning for the fiancé.

“The father and son came in, grabbed our victim, pulled him outside, began choking and beating him. Drug him into the back of a Ford Explorer and that’s where they advised him that they were going to take him somewhere. He jumped out the other side window in fear for his life and as he went to run away the father told him, ‘I’m going to find you and I’m going to shoot you.’ The son went and grabbed a bat and went to chase after him,” Webber said.

Both Nashers were charged with assault and kidnapping. They both posted $20,000 cash bail and were released.

NBC 10 went to the Nashers’ Newtown home. People came to the window but didn’t answer the door.

NBC 10 left several voicemails asking for comment and when a call was returned, a woman who did not identify herself said this was not a criminal case but a family matter between them and their daughter’s boyfriend.

“It’s a little more than a family matter. Once you touch somebody or put your hands on somebody and try to harm them, that’s when we come into the situation,” Webber said.

The woman NBC 10 spoke with also said she would sue if NBC 10 did the story, saying, “That’s the problem with this country, we put everything on TV.”

The alleged victim and his girlfriend are still together and living out-of-state, NBC 10 reported.

The Senate Tuesday voted to revive its misbegotten immigration bill, with the help of a handful of senators who claim to oppose amnesty but voted to proceed. They are now getting what they voted for, as H. L. Mencken put it, good and hard — with a 370-page “clay pigeon” amendment that is supposed to be digested and voted on by the end of the week. If the bill had been defeated yesterday, it would have been gone for at least two years and probably longer. Instead, it is a little closer to passage. But first it has to overcome another cloture vote scheduled for tomorrow. Again, the bill needs 60 votes to survive.

It got 64 votes yesterday. If all of the senators who voted against cloture stand firm, then, five senators would have to switch to no to defeat the bill on Thursday. Those votes are available from a bipartisan group of eight senators who have profound doubts about this bill. Our reporting suggests these senators are most likely to be persuaded to vote no on Thursday and derail amnesty. They are Sens. Kit Bond (R., Mo.), Sam Brownback (R., Kan.), Richard Burr (R., N.C.), Norm Coleman (R. Minn), John Ensign (R. Nev.), Ben Nelson (D., Neb.), Mark Pryor (D., Ark.) and Jim Webb (D., Va.).

The main provision they want to add, the “touchback,” is ridiculous. The original Grand Bargain stipulated that while illegal immigrants would get legal status almost immediately, they would have to leave the country to file their applications for green cards. The improved Grand Bargain — if Sens. Jon Kyl, Lindsey Graham, and Mel Martinez get their way — would also give illegal immigrants legal status, but would have them leave the country to file their applications for permanent Z visas. It is a meaningless distinction. Under either scenario, illegal aliens will have been made legal — that’s the amnesty — and then will have to make an entirely symbolic trek abroad for no purpose other than to give supporters of the Grand Bargain a tough-sounding sound bite during the next few days.

For years, supporters of amnesty have told us that deportation is impractical in contemporary America. But now the Grand Bargainers’ press releases teem with promises of deportation. Senator Graham’s office explains what would happen to heads of household who refuse to go along with the touchback requirement: “They will be deported along with their spouse and any non-American citizen children.” (Their American citizen children will presumably be sent to the nearest orphanage.) “Aliens who overstay their visa by more than 60 days will be apprehended, detained, and deported.” (Aliens who have overstayed for 59 days will generously be allowed exactly another 24 hours before their apprehension and deportation.) Given that we can’t find 600,000 absconders in the country now, these promises are obviously laughable. And if deportation is such a ready tool in our immigration arsenal it should be used now, to shrink the illegal population that is already here; it should not be coupled with an amnesty that will entice more illegals into the country.

What a terrible and sad situation this is.
Two teens brutally killed a girl who is described “as a one-time close friend”. According to the Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez, she did not go to her death easily, but “through a combination of beating, stabbing and choking”, killed her. They then took her body to into the desert and burned it beyond recognition.
These teens represent evil incarnate. They should be prosecuted, as adults, to the fullest extent of the law.

FLORENCE, Ariz. — Two teenage boys, including one who was described as a one-time close friend of the victim, were arrested Wednesday in the killing of a Queen Creek girl whose burned body was found in the desert, authorities said.

The 16-year-olds made statements that led detectives to believe they took part in the killing of Amber LeAnn Hess, 17, whose body was found Monday near Florence, Pinal County Sheriff Chris Vasquez said. Her body has been positively identified using dental records.

The suspects and Hess were acquaintances, Vasquez said.

“Basically they just didn’t like her and for whatever reason were planning to kill her,” Vasquez said. “They went to her home and through a combination of beating, stabbing and choking, killed her.”

The teens will be booked on first-degree murder charges, and other charges are likely, Vasquez said. They likely will be charged as adults, and had a court appearance set for Wednesday afternoon in juvenile court in Pinal County.

Hess’ parents had been away on a trip over the weekend, and when they returned Sunday they found blood and signs of a struggle in their home.

At a tearful press conference Wednesday afternoon, parents Michael and Candy Hess thanked the community for helping deputies identify the suspects.

Candy Hess said one of those arrested was one of her daughter’s best friends, who spent hours in their home playing video games and would call constantly.

“He was like a brother to her, which makes this even more confusing to us,” Candy Hess said.

Candy Hess said her daughter had a falling-out with the boy, who had called the girl a disrespectful name. The mother emphasized the boy wasn’t her daughter’s boyfriend.

Both boys were students at Coolidge High School, where Amber Hess recently graduated. They lived within blocks of her home.

Amber’s 2002 Mitsubishi was located Tuesday just down the street from one of the suspect’s homes, Vasquez said.

The assault is believed to have happened late Friday or early Saturday. Detectives aren’t sure if Hess let the two boys into her home or if they forced their way inside.

“From what I’m told this girl fought for her life in that home, and she didn’t die easy — it was very brutal,” Vasquez said in an interview from Salt Lake City, where he is attending a law enforcement convention. “If they had been adults I would be screaming for the death penalty in this case.”

Detectives got several anonymous tips that led them to the boys who were arrested. One tipster told of the teens coming to borrow supplies to use in cleaning up after the murder, Vasquez said.

Search warrants were served at the boys’ homes late Tuesday, and “quite a bit” of evidence linking them to the crime was seized, Vasquez said.

Deputy Chief Clint Lee said the evidence tying the pair to the crime included fingerprints and weapons.

06.27.07

The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!”
Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”John 12:12-19 (New International Version)

“What irony that many of these same people would be calling for the crucifixion of Christ just a few days later – an insight into the fickle, fallen nature of humanity.”
-Doug Westbrook, Artist of “Palm Sunday – A Bible Story Mural”

See Mr. Westbrook’s Bible Story Murals here.
If your church is looking for a unique way to bring the Word of God to it’s children and young people, take a look at Doug Westbrook’s Bible Story Murals. Each wall sized mural is based on the hand painted originals Mr. Westbrook created at Central Baptist Church in Houston, Texas and represents a different well known Bible story.
They are available on durable vinyl wallpaper for easy installation.

The liberals have been unsuccessful in overriding the second amendment to the constitution, the right to bear arms, and also unsuccessful at driving the gun manufacturers out of business, so they are doing what liberals do best…abusing the system, in this case, using the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to pull gun dealer’s licenses over minor paperwork oversights.
The liberal thought…if no one can buy guns, then eventually, no one will own guns. QED.

The government is using paperwork errors as small as the abbreviation of a city name to shut down some of the nation’s longest-serving gun shops, and 2nd Amendment advocates fear the right to bear arms will mean little if there’s no way to obtain a gun.

“No good deed goes unpunished,” Larry Pratt, of Gun Owners of America, told WND while confirming that as recently as 15 or 20 years ago, there were 250,000 licensed gun dealers in the United States.

Today, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told WND, there are 108,381, and if more cases involving dealers such as Red’s Trading Post of Twin Falls, Idaho, develop, that number will plummet quickly.

Ryan Horsley, a spokesman for Red’s, which has been in business 71 years, said the store has been battling over its license because of rules infractions such as a missing poster for more than six years.

He’s launched an online petition asking Congress to intervene and halt the “blatant targeting of law abiding dealers.” It also seeks a “fair, constitutional and speedy appeals process” and has attracted thousands of signatures.

His company also has a federal lawsuit pending against the ATF over its announcement that Red’s firearms dealership license was being withdrawn.

Attorney Mark Geston said the case asks the court to review the statute and the “propriety” of the decision that was made.

Horsley said the reason Red’s is facing a revocation is – at most – insignificant paperwork mistakes.

“Imagine having your driver’s license revoked because you did not completely spell out the word ‘no’ when answering a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question on your application five years ago,” his petition asks.

He told WND the inspectors begin with efforts to locate any petty violation they can, usually clerical mistakes. “They list these errors as ‘willful’ which Congress set in the wording to protect FFL dealers,” he said. “The dealer’s Federal Firearms License is then revoked and the dealer must enter an appeals process which is extremely unfair.”

He said essentially the appeal of a ATF decision goes directly to the people who originally made the decision.

“This is the equivalent of being in court and having the prosecuting attorney act as an adviser to the judge,” Horsley said. The result forces the business, if owners want to continue operating, to sue in federal court.

Pratt told WND, “the power that has enabled ATF to take away people’s licenses to do business” continues unabated.

Pratt said many gun dealers were closed down when Congress allowed local municipalities to recommend denial depending upon the location of the gun dealership.

And he noted a family gun business that had been operation in Baltimore, Md., for years was attacked because of the “wanton, repeated crime” of abbreviating Baltimore as “Blto” on the “teeny, tiny spaces on the forms provided by the teeny, tiny little minds.”

The agency holds, he said, a “continuing animas against gun owners and dealers.”

The inspectors have no handbook under which to operate, and the absence of such written procedures allows them to be arbitrary and capricious.

Rosie O’Donnell has really lost it now. Here’s a picture she posted of her daughter…

Maybe she is trying to draw a correlation to these children…

Not even her groupies can understand what she was trying to get at.

Unemployed gabfest queen Rosie O’Donnell, who last went to war with Elizabeth Hasselbeck only to retreat from her position on “The View,” appears to have drafted a reinforcement in the form of waify 4-year-old Vivian Rose, better known as “Vivi.”

Rosie posted a video and photo of her little soldier on her Web site Rosie.com on Tuesday, which drew immediate reaction — some not so kind — about the media transformation of her daughter from little princess to bullet-toting guerrilla fighter.

“That is a horrible picture of VIvi!!” one viewer wrote to her blog. Other comments included:

“RO, I AGREE WITH U ON MOSTLY EVERYTHING. BUT SOMEHOW I FOUND THE PICTURE OF VIVI DISTURBING. I DON’T EVEN LET MY CHILDREN PLAY WITH ANYTHING SIMILAR TO THAT. IT’S JUST A COMMENT. BUT OH WELL!!!!!!”

“wow Ro that photo of Vivi with the bullets made me cry-it’s scary to think that there are precious little ones really walking around like that in our world “for real”. Come on people! Help our babies”

“what’s with the new pic? it’s rather disturbing!”

“Help me out here….Why is that child in the header pic(your child I believe) wearing a bullet belt around her? Is there a political statement ur trying to make?”

“that picture is gross! I am disturbed…leaving your site for a clearing of my mind as to what you are up to!”

“Oh, WOW Vivi looks beautiful.! the fact that U let her explore her imagination like that shows what a good mom U R. In some countries though, they are training terrorists that young, how sad is that?”

“Ro- So dissapointed to see your little ones with bullets…where are the guns? I thought for sure you would protect them more from such things…The internet is NOT OK…but bullets ARE?? Why Why??”

“Are you kidding me with that pic of your daughter? Why would you do that?”

“WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT PICTURE OF VIVI WEARING BULLETS, I LOVE YOU AND IT REALLY OFFENEDED ME !!!!”

“Not sure of the “message” you are trying to send with that pic of Viv, but I guarantee many are not going to get it… Children with bullets, even fake…?? what are u thinking?”

A black conservative activist who has worked hard to end Affirmative Action says millions of illegal immigrants would instantly go the front of the line for preferential treatment if Senate Bill 1348 — the so-called “comprehensive immigration reform bill” — becomes law.

Ward Connerly, chairman of the Sacramento-based American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), says if the amnesty bill becomes law, millions of newly amnestied Hispanics would automatically qualify for special race-based preferences because individuals of Mexican descent are already considered an officially sanctioned, under-represented minority in the U.S.

“Under-represented minorities, who are typically black, Hispanic, and Native American, receive race-based preferences and public employment, public education, and public contracting,” he explains. “So that means that if someone is legalized by Senate Bill 1348 — and that individual is an under-represented minority — that individual would instantly become eligible for Affirmative Action preferences.”

Connerly explains that in some places, Hispanics are not really a numerical minority at all. “A minority is someone who is — quote — ‘socially and economically disadvantaged,'” he says. “And so you can have a circumstance, as we really almost do right now in California, where someone who is of Mexican descent is considered socially and economically disadvantaged — and yet they are a numerical majority.”

The ACRI chairman says it would be completely unfair to U.S. citizens to give preferences to amnestied individuals. “I think no one should get a preference in this country,” says the activist, “but certainly one would be hard pressed to justify giving preferences to amnestied individuals over an American citizen. That, to me, just makes no sense.”

Connerly says not only would amnestied individuals move ahead of American citizens, but they would also gain privileges over immigrants from countries like Russia — because they would be part of an under-represented minority.

“Totalitarian” and a blatant violation of our first amendment rights.
In typical Democrat fashion: Silence the opposition instead of of meeting it with logical arguments.

The American Civil Rights Union, an organization dedicated to protecting free speech, is blasting a liberal think tank for calling on the government to impose restrictions on talk radio.

The Center for American Progress was founded by former President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff John Podesta. Along with a group called Free Press, it has recently published a study entitled “The structural imbalance of political talk radio.” The study suggests that conservative talk radio has an unfair advantage that needs to be rectified by government intervention. It calls for more diversity in ownership, and says stations that fail to abide by government-mandated public-interest obligations should pay a fine to support public broadcasting.

Horace Cooper, a senior fellow with the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU), says individuals already have a way to regulate talk radio. “There is a very simple way they can deal with it,” he points out. “They turn to another channel.”

But the Center for American Progress, says Cooper, apparently does not like that approach. “[They say] ‘We’re not going to leave it up to the American people to decide. We want to bring the government in and have them make these decisions,'” he insists.

Cooper says the recommendations found in the report remind him of what goes on in totalitarian regimes. “They’re actually proposing that we take the ownership rights of the radio stations from the pre-existing owners and re-allocate them to other people who have approved political views,” he explains. “This is a lot like what is going on in Venezuela today. This looks a lot like what used to go on in the former [Soviet] Eastern Bloc.”

Cooper says the suggestions made by the Center for American Progress go way beyond the “Fairness Doctrine,” which some members of Congress are trying to resurrect.

Something about this immigration battle doesn’t sit well. For all the bitterness of our political battles, there’s at least the sense that the government responds to the drift of public opinion. The Republicans in Congress turned into big spenders and the war in Iraq went poorly. As a result the Democrats prospered in 2006, if narrowly. That’s how democracy works. Our politics are often angry and ugly (and that’s a problem), but this is because the public is deeply divided on issues of great importance. Deep down, we understand that our political problems reflect our own divisions.

Somehow this immigration battle feels different. The bill is wildly unpopular, yet it’s close to passing. The contrast with the high-school textbook version of democracy is not only glaring and maddening, it’s downright embarrassing. Usually, even when we’re at each others’ throats, there’s still an underlying pride in the democratic process. This immigration battle strips us of even that pride.

I’m still stuck on the way this bill was going to be pushed through without a public airing of crucial provisions, in the two or three days before Memorial Day recess. But I should be stuck even further back–on the way this bill was cooked up in a backroom deal that bypassed the ordinary process of public hearings. We take them for granted, but those civics textbook fundamentals are there for a reason. We’re going to pay a steep price for setting the fundamentals aside.

Senators who believe that by passing this bill they will at least be getting a divisive issue out of the way are making a serious mistake. This is not 1986. The immigration issue is far more prominent now, and it will only grow in importance. Demographics, and the problems of assimilation in a globalized world of satellite dishes and easy travel will see to that. Look at how votes on the war have come back to haunt Democratic politicians. Votes by legislators of both parties on this bill will be haunting them–and all of us–for years to come.

Supporters of this bill sell it as a compromise that will heal America’s divisions. I fear it’s quite the reverse. This bill is infuriating the public and undermining faith in government itself. You can see it in the polling on confidence in Congress and the President. If this bill passes, it’s going to aggravate and embitter politics for years to come. Passing a measure over such overwhelming opposition is like slapping the public in the face.

You can’t solve an argument by imposing a “compromise” on parties who don’t actually view it as a compromise. You can’t heal social divisions by forcing your version of a “solution” down the public’s throats. Real healing comes only when two sides reach what they themselves consider a valid compromise, or when one side wins the argument by persuading a clear majority of the validity of its case. Democracy does work, but first the Senate has got to give it a try.

As the illegal alien amnesty bill comes up for consideration once again in the senate, remember what it cost the citizens and legal residents of this country. My sorrow for the loss this family has suffered knows no bounds.
My Prayer: Please Father God, give these good people comfort.

The Tragic, Preventable Death of Alex Tsuji, Age 2: Murdered by an Illegal Alien

By Lyn Tsuji

On November 18, 2006, our life as we knew it came suddenly and tragically to an end.

I am writing for my son Alex Tsuji, who was born on May 20, 2004 and who died on December 6, 2006. Our car was hit by a drunk driver, Maricio Salazar, if this is his true name. He had a .26 blood alcohol content, three times the legal limit. Mr. Salazar was an illegal immigrant with no insurance or driver’s license. He was drinking and driving when he ran a red light, slammed into our minivan, and put Alex, our 2 ½ year old son, on life support for 19 days. We were shopping for Thanksgiving, and we wanted to buy video games to have an all night video game marathon with the kids. Everyone was very happy that day. Alex picked out his first video game with glee. And he spoke his first complete sentence, “Open for me, mama.”

On the first day at the hospital, the doctors said Alex could not be saved. We prayed for a miracle for 19 days; and we fought to undo what Mr. Salazar had done to him. But doctors, in the US and in Japan, my husband’s native country, confirmed our son was not viable. Alex’s spinal cord was completely transected, and he had a severe brain injury. Alex was in a coma and his body could no longer regulate his breathing or any other bodily function; it was a matter of time and how much suffering, we could not know. No doctor or medical technology could be found to save him. In the end, we, his parents, had to name the date and time of Alex’s death.

Alex is a memory now.
We will never see or hold our son again.
Everyday we miss the sound of his laughter and the mischievous smile on his face, the pitter and patter of his feet, a bit too large for his age.
We miss his joy over a little ladybug or a fluttering butterfly.
We miss his absolute love, his trust that we would keep his little world safe.
A child’s love is given wholeheartedly.
We will never see him grow and become his own person.
We are lonely and the days are long without Alex.
Mr. Salazar has taken away a son and a brother.

On that night, the crash should have never happened.
There is no justification.
The laws set in place failed us.
Mr. Salazar broke American laws in how he came to this country.
Mr. Salazar broke American laws in operating a vehicle without a license and without insurance.
He also broke American laws in driving drunk and in killing my child.
His choices devastated and destroyed our family life.
It took away our security.
It destroyed us financially and emotionally.
We will suffer the loss of our son for the rest of our lives.
Our hearts are broken and there is no mending them.

This tragedy did not just happen. It resulted from a series of choices by Mr. Salazar and by the American government’s failure to enforce its own laws set in place to protect law-abiding citizens. This travesty caused this great tragedy and utter devastation to our family.

My family and I have become victims, first of the American government’s failures, second of Salazar, and now of the legal system which, disgracefully, has made him eligible for parole in less than 3 years after killing a defenseless and innocent two-year-old, our son. Alex never made it to his 3rd birthday.

Justice will hold true only if those who break the law have something to lose.

But after all is said and done, we – Alex’s family – lose, and with all these failures, the American people are losing as well.

If you follow the link, you will be treated to some scenes from the strenuous life of a professional Muslim protester in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar. Over the last few years, there have been innumerable opportunities for him to demonstrate his piety and his pissed-offness. And the cameras have been there for him every time. Is it a fatwah? Is it a copy of the Quran allegedly down the gurgler at Guantanamo? Is it some cartoon in Denmark? Time for Rage Boy to step in and for his visage to impress the rest of the world with the depth and strength of Islamist emotion.

Last week, there was another go-round of this now-formulaic story, when Salman Rushdie accepted a knighthood from her majesty the queen, and the whole cycle of hysteria started up again. Effigies and flags burned (is there some special factory in Karachi that churns out the flags of democratic countries for occasions like this?), wounded screams from religious nut bags, bounties raised to suborn murder, and solemn resolutions passed by notional bodies such as the Pakistani “parliament.” A few months ago, it was the pope who was being threatened, and Christians in the Middle East and Muslim Asia who were actually being killed. Indeed, Rage Boy had a few yells and gibberings to offer on that occasion, too.

I have actually seen some of these demonstrations, most recently in Islamabad, and all I would do if I were a news editor is ask my camera team to take several steps back from the shot. We could then see a few dozen gesticulating men (very few women for some reason), their mustaches writhing as they scatter lighter fluid on a book or a flag or a hastily made effigy. Around them, a two-deep encirclement of camera crews. When the lights are turned off, the little gang disperses. And you may have noticed that the camera is always steady and in close-up on the flames, which it wouldn’t be if there was a big, surging mob involved.